NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan Nurse Is Named Sloan Public Service Award Recipient

NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan today announced that Jocelyn C. Perez, RN, MA, senior associate director of nursing for Behavioral Health, will be one of six outstanding public servants honored with the Fund for the City of New York’s 45th annual Sloan Public Service Award. Ms. Perez is receiving the honor in recognition of her selfless dedication to patients and as a tribute to the nurturing care that she has provided to so many individuals for more than three decades.

Regarded as the Nobel Prize of city government, the Sloan Public Service Awards are presented annually by the Fund for the City of New York to civil servants from all levels and ranks of city government. The winners were selected for their exemplary job performance and tireless dedication to the public. Each will receive a $10,000 cash prize. This year’s award recipients are being honored at their individual workplaces and at an awards presentation ceremony to be held this evening at the Great Hall at Cooper Union.

“Jocelyn Perez is a truly outstanding nurse who has dedicated her professional career to improving the lives of so many men, women, and children with mental illness,” said Alina Moran, chief executive officer of NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan. “For over thirty years, she has helped some of our most vulnerable patients lead their healthiest lives by developing and expanding opportunities for them to help themselves and each other.”

“I believe in patient-centered care and that’s what I’m passionate about,” said Ms. Perez. “All my work is centered on improving the lives of psychiatric patients. All of us who work in mental health need to push the agenda to help make sure that we’re changing the culture of stereotyping psychiatric patients.”

“The Fund for the City of New York is honored to recognize these six outstanding civil servants who have helped make New York the greatest city in the world. This year’s honorees are distinguished by their outstanding performance, their commitment and responsiveness to public needs, their fearlessness in the face of adversity, and their dedication to putting the public interest first. For that, they are being recognized with an award that is the Nobel Prize of city government,” said Mary McCormick, president of the Fund for the City of New York. “To serve the public is the highest honor and recognizing the unsung heroes who make this city a better place is of the utmost importance.”

Jocelyn Perez spent her first 22 years in New York City government at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, starting as a staff nurse. In 2008, she left NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue as the associate executive director of nursing in Psychiatry and moved to NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan as its director of nursing in Psychiatry. There, Ms. Perez leads a group of more than 200 nursing staff in psychiatry inpatient, outpatient, and emergency services. Ms. Perez has been an innovator in improving patient experience, safety, and quality of care. At NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, she initiated the first inpatient Peer Counseling Program, wherein consumers of psychiatric care who completed training for Peer Counseling are employed as staff—a model that has been replicated in other city hospitals.

“My work focuses on helping staff understand that patients with psychiatric disorders can get better and lead normal lives,” Ms. Perez added. “Like any human being, they want to have a job, a sense of purpose, to have families, to belong and to be loved.”

The six award recipients were nominated by their colleagues, peers, and friends and selected from more than 250,000 eligible workers in the mayoral agencies, the Transit and Housing Authorities, NYC Health + Hospitals, the City University of New York, the district attorneys’ offices, and the public libraries.

The Fund for the City of New York was established by the Ford Foundation in 1968 with the mandate to improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers. For over four decades, in partnership with government agencies, nonprofit institutions and foundations, the Fund has developed and helped to implement innovations in policy, programs, practices and technology in order to advance the functioning of government and nonprofit organizations in New York City and beyond. The Fund seeks out, adapts, applies and assesses ways to enable government and nonprofit agencies to ensure better outcomes for New York City’s communities, families, children and youth. For more information, go to www.fcny.org.

About the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic nonprofit institution established by Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., in 1934. Its main programs involve science and technology, standard of living and economic performance, education and careers in science and technology, selected national issues and a civic program. The goal of the civic program is to contribute to New York City by responding to special opportunities the city presents and by funding high leverage programs related to its areas of interest. The Sloan Public Service Awards of the Fund for the City of New York has been part of its civic program since 1985. For more information, see www.sloan.org.

About NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan

NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan is the community hospital of choice for residents of East Harlem, northern Manhattan, and neighboring communities. NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan provides culturally sensitive primary and specialized medical care to patients of all ages regardless of national origin, immigration status, or ability to pay. Since its founding in 1875, the hospital has been affiliated with New York Medical College, representing the oldest partnership between a hospital and a private medical school in the United States. NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan is a part of the NYC Health + Hospitals public health care system. For more information, please visit nychealthandhospitals.org/metropolitan.

About NYC Health + Hospitals

NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest public health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 42,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NYCHealthandHospitals or Twitter at @NYCHealthSystem.